No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

Chapter 624



"Felicia, you're back?"

Dustin looked at me, a mix of surprise and excitement in his eyes.

"Yeah, just got back today," I emphasized the word 'today' for effect.

Fanny chimed in smoothly, "Just got back and already bumped into you, what a coincidence."

Dustin seemed to catch the underlying message in Fanny's words, pointing upstairs, "Some of our high school buddies had planned to meet up here a few days ago."

Just then, someone called him, "Dustin, we're heading out."

He waved in their direction and then turned to us, noticing the pot of chili at our table, "You guys need anything else?"

That was his way of offering to pick up the tab.

"I've already taken care of it through an app," Fanny spoke up for both of us.

Dustin looked at me and said, "Felicia, take some time to settle in, then come over for dinner. My folks have been asking about you."

"I'll take you out for dinner sometime," I said, pausing for a moment, "And thanks for everything in Houston."

I mentioned Houston on purpose, just to see his reaction.

He stayed chill and said, "Sure."

Dustin nodded at Fanny, "Enjoy your meal. I'll head out then."

As he walked away, through the restaurant's glass window, we could see him getting into his car and driving off.

Fanny nudged me under the table, "What's going on? Dustin still not over you?"

I shifted my gaze from the bubbling chili pot, "It's over. I suspect he might be the one behind everything."

"What?" Fanny gasped.

I shared with her what I had discovered in Houston, "Fanny, what I'm about to do might seem crazy, just don't be surprised."

Fanny gasped, "Crazy how? You're thinking of getting cozy with Dustin to test him out?"

I stared off, "I can't let him off the hook just like that."

It was Brown who hurt Ernest, but Brown was just a puppet.

The real enemy, the one who had it out for Ernest, was still on the loose.

"Ernest wouldn't want you risking yourself," Fanny paused, "And you're Conrad's ex. How would he feel if you got with Dustin?"Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

I remained silent, and Fanny seemed

to understand, reaching out to hold

my hand, "Okay, whatever you

el.

decide to do, I'm with you. You take the lead, I've got your back belongs to

Content

My eyes welled up at Fanny's rare show of friendship.

When I visited Conrad, he was in the middle of a dressing change, apparently without anaesthesia, biting down on a towel while three nurses worked on the rotting flesh of his wounds.

The sight was gruesome, and the smell was foul...

If it were before, I might have been nauseated, but now, it seemed I had grown resistant to such sights.

As the nurses left, Conrad lay there, his forehead sweaty from pain.

I approached, sitting beside him, looking at his bandaged wounds, "Have you been enduring this for the whole month?"

My voice startled him into opening his eyes wide, disbelief written all over his face. He moved his lips, as if wanting to say something, but then he didn't.

He had lost a lot of weight, a testament to the torture his wounds had inflicted on him over the month.

"Why didn't you switch hospitals or even consider going abroad for treatment?" I asked him again. "I'm okay," he insisted, still trying to act tough.

"I know about the wounds, that

they're not healing and even rotting because of the alligator venom. If you keep this up, you might end up losing a limb," I told him, sharing what Fanny had informed me on my way here.

S

Conrad's suffering was because of me, and I felt it was my duty to persuade him to seek better treatment.